purchasing a business intelligence system

Business intelligence software refers to applications and technologies used to gather , provide access to , and analyze data and information about a company ‘s operations . Business intelligence systems can help companies to have a more comprehensive knowledge of the factors affecting their business , such as metrics on sales , production , internal operations , and they can help companies to make better business decisions . Note that Business Intelligence pertains to information which is internal to a firm only . External information is referred to as Competitive Intelligence and takes into [banner_entry_middle]

account factors ranging from the economy to direct competitors . Most business intelligence systems however do offer the capability to integrate wholly with competitive intelligence software ‘s to provide a single holistic review of where a firm stands and where it should go from then onwards

Since business intelligence systems work on internal data , they are mostly used by firms to become more efficient in a highly competitive market . This results in smooth operations , low cost and better customer service . These applications enable organizations to make informed business decisions , resulting in competitive advantage . For example , a company could use business intelligence applications (usually in collaboration with a Customer Relationship Management system ) to study transactions and infer existing trends and capitalize on them

These systems can be used to analyze which adjustments are most likely to respond to changing trends

Using BI systems can help companies to develop a more consistent data-based decision making process for business decisions , which can produce better results than making business decisions by “guesswork Analysis of the data usually depends on the angle from which it needs to be viewed . These systems allow managers to `dig in ‘ using data mining techniques to look at data in every angle possible e .g . if it is seen that sales of winter clothing increased during winters last year but not this year , this spike can be attributed to the sudden influx of lets say refugees rather than a constant demand for such apparel . This means that customers do not buy clothes every year but once every two to three years and the firm should come up with new ideas such as better designs and brands to encourage sales . Finally , the most obvious advantage is the dissipation of timely , accurate information throughout the organization to help managers make informed decisions regarding any issue . This also means that a firm by having such systems and a knowledge base to work upon can adapt quickly to ever changing market conditions and stay a step ahead of the competition

Usually , a standard desktop PC (monitor , CPU and keyboard mouse ) with the standard OS installed (Windows XP and upwards ) is sufficient to run these applications . These systems however do need to be network capable and be able to connect to the central servers of a firm . Apart from these PC ‘s , a whole infrastructure is usually needed to support these systems and enable them to run at their true potential . Data warehousing capabilities with integration across… [banner_entry_footer]